TACOS - A Document Analysis Strategy

If you have ever started to pull out your hair looking at DBQ doc questions, you're probably not alone. I struggled for ages trying to get my kids (15:1 Special Ed students) to analyze docs of any kind. Then I found TACOS. It's pretty straight forward - T = time A= actions C= captions O= objects and S= sum it up. It's been great so far, but it does take time to get the kids to automatically think TACOS every time they see a DBQ. Here's hoping for some passing Regents Exam grades!

If you'd like more info about TACOS - I found it here, a Doing Social Studies post 😊

Here's what it looks like in practice

If you're working with documents that aren't pictures or political cartoons, my kids just skip any part of TACOS that doesn't apply.